Dear Sisters, Brothers, and Kin,
The East Side Freedom Library is more than a library where knowledge can be accessed (although we are very proud of our collections of books and other resources—search our catalog here), and we are more than an arts—producing organization (although we are very proud of the programs we curate—search our events calendar here). We are also an organization which seeks to inform, educate, inspire, and organize our neighbors to become more effective advocates for social change on the East Side and beyond. Our Housing Justice Program has been our most developed work in this vein.
Our Housing Justice Program at the East Side Freedom Library began in March of 2019, as a grassroots, cross-sector working group of organizations and businesses coming together to address racial inequity in housing on the East Side. As the group expanded, and more community input was gathered, the need for organization, leadership, and strategy became apparent. This work was led by Ben Werner, whose team included able college interns, community organizer Sidney Stuart, an advisory committee of community members, and a working group of nonprofits, district councils, and businesses. Together, they identified these goals:
- Ensuring a democratic process in housing development on the East Side.
- Using art to activate and inspire East Side residents to come together.
- Supporting mutual aid efforts on the East Side as a response to our community’s needs and the needs of the unhoused.
- Planning and implementing events to inspire solidarity and educate the community of the East Side around housing issues, homeownership, renting and innovative solutions to housing insecurity.
- Explore and inform policies centered around building equity and wealth in the community, with a particular emphasis on addressing systemic racism within housing.
Over the past three years, this program has had an impact on: the campaign for rent stabilization; community knowledge about our rights when faced with evictions or landlord malfeasance, and about available resources and how to access them; City Council choices about how to spend federal Recovery Act monies; community participation in major development projects, such as Hillcrest and Hamm’s Brewery. East Siders, who have long been overlooked, ignored, and silenced, are finding their voices. The Program has also been successful in securing funding for our work from the AARP, the McKnight Foundation, the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency, and the East Side Funders Group.
The East Side Housing Justice Program is at an important transition point. Ben Werner is leaving us to begin a graduate program at the Pratt Institute in New York City. We are “replacing” him with two program co-directors: Sidney Stuart, who served more than a year as a community organizer, and Ismail Khadar, who has been working in housing equity programs for several years. We are reinventing our community organizations to build in collective learning processes, exploring history, political economy, best practices in community projects across the country, and critical theory.
We are also focusing on communications. The pandemic and the closing of the East Side Review have been major challenges to our neighbors, their opportunities to tell their stories and to listen to each other. We have initiated a monthly electronic newsletter, The Unified East Side Housing Justice Journal, edited by Bailey Ethier. It’s free; please subscribe! We have also begun a podcast, edited by Hilary Kaufman. Her first conversation is with Tram Hoang, lead organizer of the rent stabilization campaign. Listen here. And we are producing zines as a way to share knowledge and information. See the first one here.
The e-newsletter you are reading, which we publish twice monthly and distribute to our entire email list, usually features upcoming programs, either online or in person. And you will find a great selection here. But, given the significance of our Housing Justice Program and our awareness of this moment of transition, we wanted to call your attention to it. We hope you will make it a point not only to follow this work but to get involved.
Love and Solidarity,
Beth Cleary and Peter Rachleff
Co-Executive Directors